In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), surface coils are placed close to the desired object to be imaged to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). High performance surface coils are typically combined to form phased arrays comprised of overlapped single loop coils. These phased arrays offer the SNR of small surface coils over a field-of-view (FOV) of a larger surface coil. Phased arrays are used to achieve high resolution imaging of different parts of the body. In addition to offering a SNR advantage, multiple independent receive elements can enable accelerated imaging techniques.
Traditional phased array designs are limited because they have to be customized to each body part. Customization criteria include shape and impedance matching. Further, a large number of components are required for this traditional approach.